An investigation of parental attachment relationships: perceived parental gender attitudes: and respondents' gender-role behavior in the formation of gender attitudes

Abstract

This research is a two-part study incorporating the development of the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale and the application of this scale in an investigation of parental attachment relationship; perceived parental gender attitudes; and respondents’ gender-role behaviour in the formation of gender attitudes. The following hypotheses were examined: that there is an association between an individual’s recalled attachment style to his or her parental figures and that individual’s gender attitudes and beliefs; that the attitudes and beliefs of an individual’s parents with regard to gender roles in the home and the workplace play a part in influencing their gender ideology; that recalled attachment styles in relation to parental figures affect an individual’s identification with gender roles; that an individual’s gender role identification is related to his or her gender attitudes and beliefs; and that there is an association between race, age, gender, educational level and gender ideology. A cross-sectional study was designed, making use of convenience sampling and drawing respondents from the respective parent groups of an urban Johannesburg private school and an urban Johannesburg government school. The Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale, utilizing a 5-point Likert Scale was developed for this purpose by the researcher in the first part of the study. In the second part of the study, four questions were added to the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale to assess respondents’ recollections of their parents’ respective attitudes towards gender equality in the home and the workplace. Other questionnaires used as measuring instruments were: the Relationship iii Structures Questionnaire, used to assess respondents’ recalled attachment styles in relation to each parental figure; and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, used to categorize respondents’ gender roles in terms of acknowledged traits of instrumentality and expressiveness. Results were subjected to chi-square correlation studies. T-tests were conducted to determine the significance of the mean differences at the p=0.05α level. More conservative analyses of variance such as Fisher’s LSD Post-Hoc Comparison of Means and Levene’s Test for the Homogeneity of Variance were also used. Four key factors were found to influence Gender Attitudes and Relationship scores: (i) Respondents’ relationships with their father-figures. There was a significantly positive association between reported fearful-avoidant attachment styles towards a father-figure and higher scores on the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale, denoting a more egalitarian gender ideology in these respondents. One of the psychological implications of this result is that the relationship between attachment and gender attitudes and beliefs is complex. The influence of a secure attachment cannot be dismissed given the high number of secure attachments identified in the sample and the liberal mean obtained for the sample as a whole. However the finding that a fearful-avoidant attachment in relation to a father figure is associated with significantly higher gender egalitarianism suggests that an experience of trauma in this relationship has consequences for the development of later attitudes and beliefs in this domain.

Inconsistency in parental attitudes. It was found that respondents whose parents believed in equality in the workplace but not in the home were significantly more likely to obtain high scores on the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale. Thus, an experience of inconsistency in parental attitudes with regard to gender equality in the workplace and the home is associated more powerfully with egalitarian gender attitudes and beliefs than consistency in parental attitudes. This is irrespective of whether these beliefs are consistently traditional or consistently progressive. The impact of sex-role. While Androgynous individuals tended to obtain higher scores on the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale, respondents categorical as Undifferentiated (i.e. low in traits of both instrumentality and expressiveness), scored significantly lower on the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale. While no association was found to exist between attachment style and sex-role, it was found that respondents categorical as Androgynous (i.e. high in traits of both instrumentality and expressiveness) on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, were significantly associated with relationships of low avoidance in relation to both of their parental figures. (iv) Demographic Factors. Age, sex, race and education were all associated with scores on the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale. Females, white people, those with a tertiary qualification and older respondents obtained significantly higher scores, reflective of a more progressive gender ideology. The greater conservatism of men in this fundamentally middle-class sample points to a degree of persistence of a traditional gender schema.

In contrast to findings from the rest of the world, a positive correlation between more egalitarian gender attitudes and beliefs and increasing age was identified. The reasons for this are uncertain. The above findings have to be understood as existing within an urban population whose mean score of 74.5 on the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale was indicative of fairly liberal gender attitudes and beliefs, a finding which contrasts with data pointing to extreme conservatism emanating from research in the areas of violence against women and HIV transmission. Given the demographics of the samples, the findings of this study can be generalist to an urban, Johannesburg-based population consisting of Black and White middle-class individuals. The Coloured and Asian groups were insufficiently represented in the study for valid conclusions concerning their gender ideology to be reached. The findings are also limited to individuals able to speak and understand English. Nevertheless, the Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale may likely have utility with the parents of Children with Disorders of Sex Development, in Premarital Counseling and in the selection of senior managers, or in other settings where issues of gender are considerations. The Gender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale should be further researched in such settings.